Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.1% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded down 1.1% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $188.66 and last traded at $191.07. 4,861,601 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 15,176,303 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.17.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $184.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.55.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,743,000 after acquiring an additional 636,008 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.